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Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Reyes, a doctoral candidate in Prof. Andrew Teplyakov’s research group since 2004, was presented with the first Brennie E. Hackley, Jr. Award at a Departmental Colloquium on March 6, 2009. Juan Carlos received his B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He is studying surface chemistry in both aqueous and ultra high vacuum conditions for application in microelectronics, heterogeneous catalysis, and other fields of surface science. The results of his work have resulted in the publication of 8 papers, for which he is the lead or sole author, and 6 presentations at scientific conferences.
The Brennie E. Hackley, Jr. Award for Excellence in Research will be given in perpetuity, thanks to a most generous endowment established by his family. Dr. Hackley received his M.S. (1954) and Ph.D. (1957) degrees from the University of Delaware, working with (the late) Professor Betty Dyer. He was the first African-American to receive a doctorate in chemistry from the U of D.
Dr. Hackley was the Chief Scientist and Scientific Advisor to the Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, Edgewood Area of the
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Aberdeen (MD) Proving Grounds. His career encompassed a remarkable 57 years of continuous government service. His 75 scientific publications and 15 U.S. patents contributed significantly to the development of medical antidotes for chemical warfare agents. Following his death on November 5, 2006, he was posthumously awarded the U.S. government’s Exceptional Civilian Service Medal. In addition, on July 17, 2009, the new USAMRICD Collaborative Research Facility at the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center was dedicated to his memory. The 6,800 square foot facility is designed to serve as a venue to support collaboration with entities external to the USAMRICD, including research partners in industry, academia, and government.
Dr. Hackley’s widow, Ethel, to whom he had been married for 57 years, and daughter, Dr. Michele Hackley Johnson, were honored guests at the Colloquium. Mrs. Hackley (M.S. in Chemistry, Howard University) also worked at Edgewood. Dr. Johnson, an Associate Professor of Diagnostic Radiology, Surgical Otolaryngology and Neurosurgery at the Yale University School of Medicine, is the Director of Interventional Neuroradiology at the Yale Cerebrovascular Center. She, too, is a UD graduate, having received her B.A. in Chemistry in 1975.
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